```tracker searchType: frontmatter searchTarget: weight folder: daily notes line: title: Weight Tracker yAxisLabel: weight lineColor: blue ``` # Notes on Games and [[the Aesthetics]] of Agency - 'game designers work in the medium of agency' – Nguyen > "But there is another form of harmony, which includes the player's agency. Let's call this the harmony of action. When you time a jump just so in [[Super Mario Brothers]]; or when you figure out, during a rock climb, that you need to slide your hips over just enough to balance on that tiny nubbin of rock, you're experiencing [[more than]] the harmony of solution. You're experiencing your agency and action as fitting the demands of the environment. You experience, not only the fit between the obstacle and the solution, but the fit between the obstacle and yourself as the originator of those solutions." (Nguyen, Chapter 5, p. 108) - remember to mention that I don't need to talk about harmony of capacity, because Nguyen himself notes it is rarer in the real world. ## Different types of shooting that can make one feel like an expert. ### **Fortnite (Aim Assist)** - **Description**: In "Fortnite," the aim assist is designed primarily to help players with target acquisition and tracking. When using a controller, the aim assist slows down the reticle movement as it passes over an enemy, making it easier for players to keep their crosshairs on fast-moving targets. This form of aim assist is [[particularly useful]] in a game like "Fortnite," where building, editing, and shooting happen simultaneously, and where player movement is very dynamic. However, "Fortnite's" aim assist does not alter the bullet's trajectory; rather, it helps guide the player's aim, allowing them to better track and hit their targets. ### **Halo (Magnetism)** - **Description**: In "Halo," [[the concept]] of magnetism goes beyond just adjusting the player's aim. When a player fires a weapon, if the shot is close enough to an enemy, the game slightly adjusts the bullet's path, effectively "pulling" the projectile toward the target. This mechanic is subtle but gives players the impression of greater precision and accuracy, especially in fast-paced combat situations. Magnetism ensures that near misses often result in hits, creating a smoother and more forgiving shooting experience. ## Brainstorm about section 3 Structure for Section 3… 3.1 Ease of Use and Harmony of Action - It is tempting to think that aesthetically appealing actions are one’s that are easy. - pressing a button to call the lift is not generally aesthetically pleasing. - A more promising account comes from Nguyen, who talks about the various ‘harmonies’ that might be involved in our [[aesthetic appreciation]] of games. - they are: - harmony of solution - harmony of action - harmony of capacity. - harmony of capacity is XXX Nguyen thinks that it is something that is rarely found in the real (non-game) world. I will not consider, here at least, the possibility that this harmony plays any role in [[the aesthetics of design]]. - harmony of solution, as Nguyen notes, is available [[not just]] to players of games but spectators. In fact, harmony of solution, might be thought very similar to Forsey’s ideas about [[the role]] of use in [[design appreciation]] - harmony of action, on the other hand, seems like a promising candidate for applying to design. Certain actions feel good to do. Actions in video games are often talked of in terms of satisfaction [EXAMPLE]. We might say that well designed objects do the same. [EXAMPLE]. - While I think that harmony of action picks out an interesting agentive aesthetic in games and designed objects. I think we might add another harmony, one which applies in particular to designed objects, but also to games. We could call this: The Harmony of Effortlessness. ## 3.2 Montero on [[Aesthetic Effortlessness]] ### 3.1.1 Easy vs Effortless Actions - Effortlessness often involves seeing an action as difficult, yet appearing easy - This applies to various domains: dance, music, and even architecture > When we attribute effortlessness to bodily movements in dance, it seems that at least in many cases we also see the work as, in some sense, difficult; we see it as difficult, yet appearing easy. Osipova's effortless leaps are certainly difficult. ## Montero's [[aesthetic effortlessness]] as a better understanding from old - (Montero is most interested in watching dance, but there is no reason why here ideas can't be applied to sensing one's own movement) - [[Aesthetic effortlessness]] is characterised by Montero as a "superfluity of fitness" - (I know the following quote is way to long) I think Spencer’s (1852/1892) view, however, might have something to recommend it. If the movements we dub as effortless are movements that would be for us difficult to perform yet appear to be performed with reduced effort, then part of the reason why effortless action is attractive could be that it reveals a superfluity of fitness. Of course, proprioceptive sympathy could be part of the reason we admire effortless movement as well. Whether this is in part because proprioceptive sympathy makes us feel as if we were attuned to our fellow human beings, as Bergson seemed to think, I am not so sure, but it does seem that upon watching effortless movement, one of the things we enjoy is the feeling of performing difficult movements in a smooth, coordinated, efficient way (and this, perhaps, can be experienced even if we know great work was put into creating this coordinated efficiency). (p. 190) When we attribute effortlessness to bodily movements in dance, it seems that at least in many cases we also see the work as, in some sense, difficult; we see it as difficult, yet appearing easy. Osipova's effortless leaps are certainly difficult." But perhaps most importantly, effortless movements are pleasurable because they are beautiful. And it may be that we recognize them as beautiful because we both sym- pathetically proprioceive them and see them as revealing a superfluity of fitness. - [[Aesthetic effortlessness]] is about performing challenging things with graceful, elegant ease - Efficiency, economy and elegance in skilfully tackling difficult tasks without apparent strain - Exhibiting "superfluity of fitness" - excess capacity that makes hard things seem easy - This is different from things that are simply easy to do in a mundane, trivial way - [[Aesthetic effortlessness]] involves a dimension of artful, masterful economy Appreciating Our Own Effortlessness - We appreciate aesthetic effortlessness kinesthetically - feeling the quality of our own effortless actions - Sense of unencumbered, maximally efficient and graceful motion - Savor the feeling of fluidly performing complex physical tasks - Not haptic alla Roberts, but kinesthetic Contrast with merely easy actions lacking aesthetic dimension: - Pressing an elevator call button is easy but experientially neutral - Requires no skill or economy of motion, just simplistic - No sense of gracefully navigating a complex task - Pushing the button doesn't feel like an aesthetically refined action - Aesthetic effortlessness is about more than ease - about feeling one's own skillful, unencumbered mastery - Kinesthetic pleasure of acting with maximal elegance and efficiency Moving onto Designed Objects - This captures a central aesthetic dimension of good interaction design - The sense of gracefully economical, unencumbered, masterfully easy action - Interfaces that enable users to achieve complex tasks with fluid, efficient elegance - We can aesthetically appreciate the effortlessness of our own actions enabled by good design - The kinesthetic delight of feeling one's own deft, graceful, optimally efficient action - Performing sophisticated operations with a nimble, unencumbered naturality - Proprioceptively appreciating the aesthetic qualities of one's own masterfully economical engagement - Addresses gaps in Nguyen's account by providing a richer phenomenology of aesthetically pleasing actions - Designers can aim to elicit a feeling of effortless action in users - Enable performing difficult actions with ease, a feeling of "superfluity of fitness" - A well-designed app interface doesn't just make it easy to press a button, but gives an overarching sense of fluid, economical, masterful action in navigating its sophisticated functionalities - The aesthetics of invisible design lie in this higher-order effortlessness, not just simplicity - Contrast with simply pressing an elevator button - easy but lacks the economical elegance and mastery connoted by aesthetic effortlessness